


Cinderfella

by RainbowSerenity



Category: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Crack, Glitter, Male Cinderella, Royalty, Science, these tags are dumb lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:19:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24739891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainbowSerenity/pseuds/RainbowSerenity
Summary: Glitter was spilling around Noel at an alarming rate. “Look, you want to get to the ball, right?”“Yes.” Hope was surprised at how easily the answer came, especially to a complete stranger. “More than anything.”“Then guess what – it’s possible.”“It’s possible?”“Exactly.”
Relationships: Hope Estheim/Lightning
Kudos: 20





	Cinderfella

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this like two years ago and I'm only posting it here because for some reason, it's one of the few fics of mine I can regularly reread without cringing lol
> 
> basically a Cinderella parody, don't take it too seriously

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away – or maybe it was close by, depending on your current location – there lived an orphan named Hope. His name was oddly fitting, since a bit of hope was all he seemed to have a firm grasp on in life.

Unfortunately, since it wasn’t anything tangible, he couldn’t survive on that alone and ended up becoming an apprentice to the only scientist in town, just too keep a roof over his head. The man gave meaning to the phrase _mad_ scientist and didn’t treat Hope that well, often making him do menial chores that were more for busywork rather than for science.

Because of this, Hope often found himself daydreaming of what it would be like to escape – to do what he wanted on his own terms and make his own decisions, not simply drift along because his parents were dead and he had no means of getting anywhere else. Unless he had it in himself to steal his mentor’s meager fortune – which he would never do out of principal – Hope knew he would be stuck here for a long time, scrubbing floors and dusting old glass beakers that hadn’t been good for experiments since before he was born.

The one reprieve he had was when he was sometimes sent into town to pick up supplies. Sure, he wasn’t allowed to make multiple trips so he’d have to carry around all his bags and packages like some kind of pack mule, but it was nice to get outside the dreary old lab’s walls and see a bit more of the kingdom.

And as silly as it may have been for a grown man like himself, he often found himself staring at couples walking hand-in-hand or families with their children, wondering what it was like to have such affection solely for you.

Hope had loved his mother and admired his father, but neither of them could do much when they’d already passed on into their next lives and he was stuck here in this one, where he was about to be run over by a carriage.

Wait...

“Watch out!” the coachman called in a nasty tone of voice. Hope gasped and jumped out of the way just as a regal-looking carriage hurried past him. He accidentally dropped some of his bags and they were trampled and stomped on. If he were a bit more poetic, he would’ve added that his heart felt worn and trampled too, but as he was, he was just hopeful that everything in there wasn’t ruined.

“Are you all right?”

Hope glanced up, immediately locked onto piercing blue eyes that seemed slightly familiar, but it was hard to think logically when his heart was suddenly pounding as loud as the horse’s hooves that’d nearly run him over.

“Um - ” He cleared his throat, trying to act somewhat confident. “Yes. Thank you, miss.”

She titled her head, stray pieces of unusual pink hair falling into her eyes. “Right.” To his surprise, she helped gather up his fallen packages and placed them back in his arms. “I think you’re good to go. Try not to get run over.”

“Uh, yeah. Yes. Of course.” Hope had no idea why he suddenly felt so tongue-twisted. The woman couldn’t seem to stop starting at him either, though her expression gave away little. If he was honest, her clothes weren’t much to look at – she was dressed even more plainly than he was, if that was possible – so her eyes stood out that much more. It was difficult to look away.

Was it love at first sight? Perhaps. Lust was more likely, he knew, but still…

“…I’ll see you around.” She smiled ever-so-slightly. “Watch out. Those royal carriages usually don’t watch where they’re going.”

“Oh, uh. Yes. Right.” How did she know it was a royal carriage that’d nearly plowed him over? Then again, it wasn’t like he left the lab often enough to tell the difference. “I need to get this stuff back to my mentor, anyway.”

“All right…?”

“…Yes?”

She gave him an unimpressed look. “This is the point where you tell me your name.”

“Oh.” Hope was pretty sure he was blushing now. Or maybe he was one of those lucky people who didn’t turn completely red when their face felt stupidly hot. “…My name is Hope.”

“Hope,” she repeated. She quirked the tiniest of smiles. “Be careful out there.”

“I will.”

Before he could say anything else – or before the idea to maybe ask her for _her_ name occurred to him – the woman turned and disappeared into the crowd just as the clock struck the hour. Hope shook himself out of his stupor and hurried back to the lab, daydreaming all the while.

–

Though he didn’t get out much because of his mentor’s demands, Hope could tell when there was something big happening in the kingdom. It was that unexplainable buzz in the air that captivated everyone and spread, not unlike a plague. Only in a good way.

Why he felt this way, he had no idea…until the invitation came.

He didn’t know what it was at first, despite the raised print on the envelope addressed to _All Occupants of The Lab_ and the smooth, fancy paper. It was obvious this paper was important.

He was right.

“The princess is throwing a ball,” his mentor said after he’d read the invitation. “They’re inviting everyone in the kingdom for networking purposes and to find the princess a suitor.” He tapped the envelope with a wicked smirk. “Perfect. Maybe I can finally get some decent supplies in here.”

Hope glanced around, wanting to mention the hoards of unused equipment that he was forced to constantly clean, but bit his tongue. It had nothing to do with his question, after all. “Um, sir?”

“Yes, what is it?”

“I…I don’t have a suit. Do you think that maybe I could…?”

Hope trailed off when his mentor glanced at him with an appalled expression, eying him up and down. “Why on _earth_ would _you_ need a suit, boy?”

“Well…I just….I noticed that the invitation was addressed to all the occupants here,” Hope managed to say. He always had a hard time voicing his thoughts around his mentor. “And seeing as how I live here, I thought…”

“You?” The old man laughed, looking like he’d heard the most hilarious joke ever. Hope had not been joking. “Do _you_ want to go to the ball?”

“I…”

“Look at yourself, boy.” His mentor made a strange sort of disgusted expression, which would’ve offended Hope had he not seen it from the guy all the time. “You’re common. You’re nothing. You’re lucky I’ve kept you in all these years, that I’m still willing to keep a roof over your head. Know your place and be satisfied with it, because the world is cruel and this is the best you’ll ever have.”

Hope just stood there, swallowing heavily as his mentor waltzed out of the room, muttering something about getting his shoes shined and looking for all the world like he hadn’t just cracked his apprentice’s soul into pieces.

It wasn’t as though Hope was _unaware_ that the world was cruel and there was little chance he would ever escape from this place. He was basically all alone in the world and had little to offer aside from his brilliant mind.

To hear it spoken to him so plainly was the cruelest form of confirmation.

Was it any wonder that he dreamed of escaping, of doing more, something better? Perhaps he could meet a beautiful woman who appreciated the sciences and he’d use his mind to better the kingdom with her encouragement and why did the hypothetical woman in this daydream have piercing blue eyes?

Hope sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. Maybe he wasn’t allowed to go to the ball, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t imagine it.

–

Except imagination wasn’t enough, even if it was greater than science.

Who had said that? He had no idea, since that quote was wrongly attributed all the time. Not that it mattered, not right now.

“I want the lab so clean I could eat from the slides and tables with no repercussions whatsoever.” His mentor adjusted his suit, a gaudy-looking thing that had gone out of style a decade ago. “Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir.” Hope walked the man out to the carriage. Woooo, a night of cleaning and dusting and not doing anything remotely good for his mental well-being. Story of his life.

“Good. Stay out of trouble.”

Hope wondered what the heck kind of trouble he could possibly get into, but said nothing as his mentor climbed into the carriage, not sparing a glance at his apprentice as the driver flicked the reins and they clopped down the street, heading towards the palace in the center of the kingdom.

All of a sudden, it was eerily silent. Hope assumed that everyone who was able to get there was at the ball, undoubtedly the biggest, most important event of the year. Yes, anyone who was anyone was dancing the waltz and speaking to important people.

Too bad he wasn’t anyone – he was no one.

“What the heck kind of attitude is that?”

Hope jumped with a shriek, covering his mouth with one hand when someone – that _was_ a person, right? - materialized behind him without a sound. He noticed a second later that this person had managed to creep up on him because he was floating.

_Floating._

“Who are you?!” he managed to croak out.

The person – at a closer glance, they seemed to be male, albeit a _very_ pretty one – floated towards Hope. “What, you don’t know how this story goes?”

“Story? What story?”

“Never mind.” The guy shook out his luxurious brown hair. Glitter spilled from the strands and just kind of settled in the air around him, which might have been the weirdest thing of all. “I’m Noel. I’m your fairy godfather. I’m gonna take care of you, okay?”

“…My _what?!”_

“Oh man, you really _are_ a lost cause.” Noel sighed and floated into the lab, where Hope followed in a daze. Glitter was spilling around Noel at an alarming rate. “Look, you want to get to the ball, right?”

“Yes.” Hope was surprised at how easily the answer came, especially to a complete stranger. “More than anything.”

“Then guess what – it’s possible.”

“It’s possible?”

“Exactly.” Noel grinned and Hope blinked at him a couple of times, still wondering at this guy floating in the lab and spewing glitter everywhere. Weirdly enough, the only thought that crept into his mind was that Noel was probably floating because walking in the enormous pants he was wearing seemed impossible. “I’m gonna get you to the ball, and it’s gonna be the best night of your life.”

“Wait a sec.” Hope held up his hands. “How are you going to get me to the ball? I don’t have a coach or horses or…or anything. I’m no one.”

“How can you be no one when you’re standing there like someone?”

“Huh?”

“Exactly,” Noel echoed. Hope wondered if Noel was actually trying to make sense or just actively confusing him. Maybe his mentor had slipped a little something in the duster and cleaning supplies and now Hope was hallucinating. That seemed logical.

Except…except…he _wanted_ to believe.

“Everything starts with believing,” Noel added as though he’d read Hope’s mind. “So, like, do you _believe_ I can turn a pumpkin into a carriage?”

“No.”

“No?!”

“Because we don’t have any pumpkins,” Hope pointed out. “We’re in a lab, not a quaint little home with a vegetable garden.”

“Good point.” Noel glanced around and finally pointed at one of the old beakers that Hope had cleaned earlier. “What about that thing? You believe I can turn _that_ into a carriage?”

“I…guess so?”

That seemed to be all the incentive Noel needed. Ignoring Hope’s wide eyes, he made the beaker float outside and made some motions with his hands. Glitter swirled around the beaker, blinding it with light as it grew and stretched, the glass sounding like crackling ice as it formed a stunning carriage that made prisms with the rays of the setting sun.

Hope stared. “How…”

“Don’t ask me how. _Magic.”_ Noel grinned, looking over the carriage with approval. “Man, these designs on it are a little weird, though. They look like…numbers, maybe?”

“That, uh…” Hope cleared his throat. “That doesn’t matter much to me, as long as it gets me there.”

Noel snapped his fingers. “That’s what I need!” He floated back, only to return with a bunch of lab rats, their noses twitching excitedly from being out of their mazes. “This’ll only take a sec.”

With another whoosh of his hand (and more glitter), some of the rats were transformed into stunning horses with long, luxurious manes. The others became a driver and footman, who glanced around in confusion, probably wondering why they were so tall.

Hope stared some more. Asking _how_ was useless, he knew, but…

“Ahem.” Noel gestured to the rats/coachmen, who scrambled to their positions. “What else…” he muttered.

Against his better judgment, Hope glanced down at himself. He was wearing a dirty, ragged shirt, pants that were too short, and shoes with soles so worn that he may as well not have even bothered. His mentor didn’t believe in keeping his apprentice looking well. “I…”

“Say no more.”

After Noel flicked his hand (more glitter), Hope spun around as though compelled by some unseen force. He could _feel_ the magic working over his clothing and hair, transforming him into a different person entirely.

And when the glitter faded, he may as well have been.

The suit Noel had magicked him into was of a style he’d never seen before in any kingdom, yet conveyed all the taste and elegance of the most elite. It was of varying shades of green, yellow, and white, which should have looked gaudy, but stood out perfectly with his hair and eyes. His shoes were shiny, his hair perfectly done, and his skin was even so clean that he was sure anyone looking would actually be able to see the light smattering of freckles across his nose that were usually hidden by dust.

“This…” Hope held out his arms, looking himself up and down as best he could while trying to keep his jaw off the floor. “Noel, I – how did - ?”

“You know my answer.”

“I guess I do.” Hope felt a little dazed. His arms flopped down, and it was only then that he noticed the yellow band tied around his left wrist. “What’s this?”

“Plot device. Don’t worry about it.”

“…”

“Don’t look at me like that! Look, time’s a-wasting, and trust me, that’s the last thing you want to do. In you go.” He ushered Hope towards the beaker-turned-carriage.

“Okay, okay.” Hope smiled despite himself, letting himself feel an ounce of excitement. He was going to the ball! It didn’t feel real, even as he climbed into the carriage, almost wanting to sing out loud for it. His heart pounded in excitement.

Right before it took off, Noel cried out, “Wait! Just one more thing!”

“What is it?”

“Get back here before midnight.”

“What? Why?”

“The magic wears off at twelve,” Noel explained, trying to sound a bit ominous, but all of the glitter cascading out of his hair ruined that effect. “Unless you can get home on an actual glass tube and some rats, you’ll wanna head out before then.”

“I probably could,” Hope replied. “I _am_ a scientist.”

“Yeah, well, don’t chance it, okay?” Noel patted the carriage. “Now go on! Have the time of your life and all that!”

“I will!”

The carriage started off and Noel disappeared in an explosion of glitter. Hope sat back against the cushions, watching the kingdom fly by, excitement building in his heart.

Perhaps this really would be the best night of his life.

–

This was the worst night of her life.

No, that wasn’t quite true – the _worst_ was when Serah came home from a visit from the neighboring Villiers kingdom with a ring on her finger and a fiance that followed her around everywhere, making the pressure for Lightning to find a husband and produce an heir heavier than ever.

It was stupid and medieval – everyone knew Serah would make a better queen. She already had a proposal from a neighboring prince, and not just out of convenience, either – Snow genuinely _did_ love Serah. It was clear they could rule if they wanted to, though Lighting personally wouldn’t trust Snow to put his shoes on by himself.

But nooo, just because there were all these _laws_ and _rules_ and she just _happened_ to be born first, everyone was on her to find a husband, nobility or not, so she could safely become queen – never mind that she’d been doing just fine ever since her parents died, thank you very much. A husband would only slow her down.

All the palace advisers didn’t seem to think so, however. They’d decided she needed to throw this ball and invite everyone in the kingdom in hopes that she could find someone to be with.

So stupid.

And yet…

Lightning bowed her head to the man that’d basically been thrown towards her to dance with, letting him lead as the string quartet played a lazy waltz. He bowed deeply before sweeping her into the dance, not noticing when he stepped on her foot and started yammering on about waterfalls or something.

He wasn’t the one. She knew that much.

Princess Lightning Farron wouldn’t have said she believed in magic or love at first sight, but there wasn’t much of an explanation for the way her heart had thrummed in her chest ever since her random meeting with that stranger, Hope.

It was so stupid – all she’d done was help pick up the packages he’d dropped, a delightfully mundane task that she normally never did since she had servants waiting on her hand and foot. He hadn’t even seemed to recognize her, maybe due to her disguise as a commoner, which was usually preferable but now she wondered if that was really such a good thing when with every possible suitor that was presented to her, all she could searched for were sea-green eyes and a mop of silver hair.

Sure, the guy could’ve been a terrible person. Maybe he had bad breath or picked his nose when he thought people weren’t looking and all of her wondering was for nothing.

But how would she know unless she was given a chance?

With every new dance partner, however, her disappointment grew. Either Hope hadn’t come or he hadn’t gotten the invitation at all, despite the fact that literally every person in the kingdom had been invited. Maybe he’d taken one look at the immensely crowded ballroom and turned away.

She glanced up when the doors suddenly creaked open, sounding incredibly loud despite all the chatter and the music, and suddenly stopped, messing up the whole dance as she stared at the top of the stairs.

Or maybe Hope would simply appear as though put there by magic.

–

When Hope had been walking the long hallway to the ballroom, escorted by a couple of silent guards, he kept wondering if he should turn back and just forget this whole thing. Just because he _wanted_ to go to the ball didn’t mean he _should_.

He’d almost expected Noel to sprinkle glitter over him and insist that he just move, but nothing like that happened. Surprisingly, Hope was going forward on his own confidence, something that didn’t happen very often. It was difficult to feel confident when your mentor/supposed father figure constantly looked down on you.

Maybe it was the outfit. It probably was, but at the same time, he knew it wasn’t merely the suit that was pushing him forward, giving him the thoughts that he _could_ do this, that he _deserved_ to. Looking like a million gil definitely helped, but when all was said and done, not even the world’s most comfortable shoes could move _for_ him.

Huh, maybe there’d been a little something extra in all of Noel’s glitter.

All of the confidence came to a head when he stepped into the ballroom, staring down those long stairs and meeting an oddly familiar piercing blue gaze.

Everything seemed to stop and time itself felt like it was in slow motion as Hope walked down the stairs, every step bringing more whispers and stares from the crowds. Despite all that, they seemed to part for him naturally as he approached the one person he hadn’t at all expected to see.

Her bangs still fell into her eyes, though that did nothing to hide their beauty. Hope was so distracted by that simple fact that it took him a full minute of staring to realize that she was dressed in a glittering violet gown – a color reserved for royalty – and had an elaborately designed tiara on her head.

Oh.

_Oh._

Hope’s eyes widened a bit as he finally got his head on straight and bowed, an arm over his waist and one sweeping out to his side, as was proper. Or so he’d heard. If it wasn’t, he might be beheaded and that’d be okay at this point. It wasn’t like luck was normally on his side, Noel excluded. “Good evening, your highness.”

There was a slight pause before the unthinkable happened.

She curtsied back.

He glanced up to see her smiling ever-so-slightly, which he returned without thinking. And then, as though ordained by fate, they immediately fell close to each other, his hand on her waist and the other grasping hers, waltzing into a dance that felt as old as time itself.

Huh, maybe he _did_ have the makings of a poet.

Her dressed swooshed his legs as they whirled around the ballroom. It was actually a pretty pleasant feeling, but of course only came second to the way her hand fit perfectly in his and how easily they danced as though meant to do it.

“I was hoping you’d come,” she finally said in a low voice once they’d made their way around.

This surprised him and he nearly stumbled, but somehow managed to stay upright. Maybe those shoes Noel had given him were magic. “You were?”

“Yes. I only had your name to go by, after all.”

“How did you…” As his voice trailed off and those eyes stared into his, it suddenly hit him where he’d seen that gaze before.

Hit him like a carriage, maybe.

“You’re the woman from the marketplace,” he said in awe.

“I like to get out there sometimes,” she said with a little smirk. “It’s difficult to rule a kingdom unless I know about it.”

“I would imagine so, your highness.”

The princess. The _princess_ had knelt down in the dirt and helped him pick up his packages. He was dancing with the _princess._ Of the entire _kingdom._ That thought came front and center and he glanced around a bit, unwilling to let his eyes wander too far.

“What is it?” she asked.

He smiled nervously. “Everyone’s staring at us.” Indeed, they were the only ones dancing, while everyone else was clumped up in a huge crowd, wondering about this mystery suitor who’d come and put a smile on the princess’s face out of nowhere.

“I’d hardly noticed,” she admitted, tugging him a bit closer, her thumb toying over his wristband curiously. Hope wanted to burst into song or maybe a choreographed dance, but settled for smiling and squeezing princess Lightning’s hand in his.

In all of his joy, it didn’t really occur to Hope that his mentor was probably in the crowd somewhere and likely recognized him…at least until it was some time later and Lightning was leading him to the gardens outside.

His mentor was at the edge of the crowd, talking to someone who looked incredibly bored. Hope ducked his head a bit, though he knew nothing would hide his mop of silver hair.

Lightning noticed this. “Is something wrong?”

“N-No, your highness,” he said, breathing an audible sigh of relief when they were suddenly alone in the garden. She raised an eyebrow. “Nothing you need to concern yourself with.”

“Maybe I want to.” Now it was Hope’s turn to stare at her and she huffed a little, her heels making low sounds on the pavement as they wandered. “I’ve always been…practical. Kept my eyes front. My goal has always been to lead a prosperous, happy kingdom. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Your highness…?”

“And then I find someone who nearly gets run over by a carriage because he can’t watch where he’s going.” Him. She was talking about him. Right? “And I can’t help but wonder if perhaps all the tales are true.”

Hope’s head was reeling. “What sort of tales?”

“A princess finding a suitor when it’s the last thing she wants. They have a chance meeting and when they properly meet, it’s…”

“…It’s amazing,” he finished in a whisper, his heart still thudding. It hadn’t stopped from the moment he’d arrived to the ball, really. “Love at first sight always seemed illogical to me, but I can’t…I can’t ignore what I feel when I look at you, when I dance with you, or even now, just talking to you like this.”

Lightning looked at him, her expression a strange mix of wariness and hope. “And what is it that you feel?”

“I feel…” He had no idea if Noel really _had_ given him a dose of confidence, because Hope was _never_ this forward with anyone. He wasn’t meek, exactly, but he always made sure to stay in his place. His mentor insisted on as much, after all. “…I feel like I haven’t really lived at all until now. I don’t even really know you, your highness - ”

“Call me Light.”

“…Light.” He smiled and took her hands, her fingers instantly curling around his. “And you barely know me. But something about this just fits. Doesn’t it?”

“Yes.” She took a step, closing some of the space between them. “Maybe this night isn’t even real. Maybe we’ll both wake up disappointed.”

“If this isn’t reality, I don’t care, as long as you’re there.”

She looked completely flabbergasted, and honestly, he felt the same. Dancing with someone he’d met by chance, only for them to be the princess and they fell so hard after dancing? It was like a fairy tale. Things like this just didn’t _happen._

But then again, people also didn’t have fairy godfathers who magically turned beakers and lab rats into coaches and horses and clothed them in finery dotted with glitter.

The thought gave him pause. Was any of this real? Her feelings – were they brought on by the fancy clothes and fake confidence? When he was back to being a dusty apprentice, would she still stare at him with an adoring gaze that he somehow knew was only reserved for him?

If the tales were right, there was only one way to find out.

Lightning seemed to have the same idea, because she started leaning just as he did. Up close, he could see the faint blush on her face, her long lashes that seemed to go on forever, especially as her eyes slowly closed and their lips were barely a breath apart… _  
_

_BONG! BONG!_

Hope gasped and immediately backed away. “I can’t stay.”

“What?”

He didn’t stick around to explain – how _could_ he explain any of this anyway? - and spun on his heel, immediately darting back into the crowd. He heard people murmuring and the sound of heels as Lightning chased after him, but he didn’t stop to apologize, not when every strike of the clock was like a death sentence, just looming closer and closer.

“Hey, wait up!”

A tall blond man grabbed his arm, but Hope shook it off and continued to run, dashing up the stairs and then bursting out of the ballroom. Vaguely, he felt something fall off his wrist and flutter away, but there was no time to think about it. The lab rats turned coachmen were frantically waving him over to the beaker carriage and Hope flew inside about a second before the horses ran off, galloping into the night.

Maybe it was a reward for getting out of there before midnight – or just at it, anyway – because the magic lasted until they were but a block away from the mentor’s house. Hope’s clothing faded away in a spray of glitter and he was left in his dirty shirt and pants. The beaker rolled onto its side and the rats scurried around, looking confused.

He sighed heavily, scooping them up and letting them stay in his pockets. “I don’t blame you guys one bit,” he said as he walked the rest of the way back to the house. “I can’t remember the last time I panicked so much.”

The house was still dark when he got back and he set the beaker aside, giving it a strangely fond look before putting the rats back in their cages. They seemed a lot happier to be back somewhere familiar and Hope sighed again, finishing his thought to no one but himself.

“But it was worth every second.”

–

Lightning stared at the piece of yellow fabric in her hand. It was slightly stretchy when she tugged on it, possibly an indication that it was meant to go around someone’s wrist.

If she hadn’t been holding it, she would have believed that last night was simply a dream, or perhaps something out of a silly fairy tale, which was sounding more and more likely. This fabric in her hands was clearly the plot device, which she used to scour the kingdom to find the man who’d worn it…

Except this was a wristband, not a shoe, which meant it could fit anybody.

Then again, she’d seen Hope’s face – twice now, in fact. Since she wasn’t a complete idiot, she could just gather all the young silver-haired men in the kingdom and pick them out from there.

“Sounds like a great idea, sis!”

Lightning frowned and glanced to her side, where her sister Serah was beaming. “I didn’t realize I’d spoken out loud.”

“You tend to do that.” Serah seemed to find this hilarious, but her expression softened when she saw Lightning holding the wristband. “I’ve never seen you so happy as you were when you were with that man. You must find him!”

“I…” It was here that she felt like a complete idiot. “I don’t where he lives.”

Serah stared for a second before giggling. “Really?! Who dances with someone the whole night, nearly _kisses_ them - ”

“How do you know about that?”

“ - and doesn’t even know where they _live?_ This really must be love, Light, because you _never_ lose your head like that.” Serah patted her sister’s hand. “At least you know his name, right?”

“Yes.” Of course she did. What kind of idiot spent an entire night with someone without learning their name? Never mind that she hadn’t learned it at the ball, exactly…

“All the more reason to find him. Where should we start?”

“The beginning, I suppose.”

Unfortunately for her predicament, her kingdom was absolutely enormous, stretching for miles and miles across many lands and roads. At first, it was nothing to travel from the outskirts going in, asking if there was anybody named Hope living there or if they knew of him. A few homes did have a silver-haired man, but they were always the wrong person.

Stranger still was that nobody seemed to know who Lightning was talking about. Those who had gone to the ball recalled her dancing with him, of course, but they didn’t know who he was. Nobody seemed to recognize the wristband, either.

“In fact, your highness, this is the oddest fabric I’ve ever seen in my life,” a seamstress said, looking it over with a critical eye. “It’s not something I’ve ever worked with. Perhaps someone conjured it into being by magic.”

At this point, she wouldn’t doubt that, even though everybody knew magic wasn’t real. Pffft. Instead, she simply thanked the seamstress with a sigh, getting into the carriage and letting her drivers take her to a different part of town.

It wasn’t a question of if she _could_ find Hope or not – she _would._ This she knew without a doubt.

But with every wrong man, wrong house, wrong Hope, her heart grew heavier and heavier and the doubt began to creep in.

Until she arrived at the lab.

–

When Hope heard a carriage stop in front of the lab, he didn’t think much of it. His mentor sometimes got visitors to tour the place or who had ingredients for experiments to deliver. Typically when this happened, his mentor would make Hope go into the other room and clean or prepare drinks for the guest, acting more like a butler than an apprentice.

But this time, his mentor took one look outside the window and glanced at Hope, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. “Go into the kitchen.”

“I’m sorry, sir?”

“Go into the kitchen and sweep the ashes from the fireplace,” he barked out.

“Y-Yes.” Hope wandered towards the kitchen in a daze. His head had been in the clouds since the ball, something which his mentor seemed to notice. The guy was even more cruel than usual, making Hope do every tiny little task that had nothing to do with science. Sweeping ash was nothing compared to scrubbing the lab rats’ cages.

His mentor closed the kitchen door once Hope was in there and he swept slowly, ignoring all the clouds of ash that dirtied his ankles. It didn’t matter when his mind was a million miles away, thinking of a lovely night where he danced with the princess…

“No, no, there’s no one else here.”

Hope glanced towards the door with a slight frown as he heard his mentor’s voice break through his daydreams. It wasn’t really uncommon that the guy denied he had an apprentice – Hope was too common, after all – but there was something high-pitched and nervous in his words that made the broom pause.

Out of the corner of his eye, Hope saw a burst of glitter before he heard an achingly familiar voice.

“Are you certain of that?”

_Light._

Hope dropped the broom and immediately raced to the door to burst through it like a hero in a story, but it wouldn’t budge. He pushed himself against it and jiggled the knob, but nothing happen and he slumped against it, feeling the fight leave him.

His mentor had locked him in the kitchen, which only meant one thing – he knew Hope had been to the ball.

There were a thousand things he could do – he could shout, he could continue to break down the door, he could use a flame from the fireplace to burn the doorknob off…but Hope did none of that.

Instead, he simply stood there in shock, fear planting his feet and sole-less shoes to the floor.

For a moment, he wished Noel would come back and dress him in that finery again so the confidence would come back. Logically, he knew it wasn’t the clothes doing it, but that night at the ball had made him feel so different – more like himself, the way he _really_ was, instead of a simple, common apprentice to a mentor that wanted nothing of his mind.

He was simple. He was common. He was an orphan with nothing.

“What was that noise?”

“Oh, ah – just my dogs, your highness. I didn’t want them to run out here and disturb you.”

Apparently he was a dog.

“I don’t give a damn about any dogs. You’re sure there’s no one else here, or that you don’t know of a silver-haired man named Hope?”

But according to the desperation in Light’s voice, he was more than a dog, a commoner, a simple man. He was someone that was needed.

And he wanted to be found.

Knowing that it was useless to try anything else with the door, Hope immediately turned towards the kitchen window and opened it. It was just barely enough for him to wiggle through, though he could’ve sworn he saw another flash of glitter at the moment he believed he was stuck.

Instead, he fell to the ground and hurriedly scrambled to his feet, hearing poised footsteps walking towards the carriage parked in front of the lab. His mentor was coming out the walkway, babbling about something as the princess was helped to her seat, but Hope barely heard. Instead, he walked out towards the carriage just as it started off, getting in the way of the horses and just narrowly avoiding them running him over.

For a long, long moment, he stared at those perfectly groomed, white horses, the surest sign of nobility. The carriage was ornate and edged in gold, a far cry from the beaker he’d arrived to the ball in.

The carriage stopped.

The princess came out.

Again, there was a long pause where the two of them just stared at each other, she dressed in perfectly fitted silk gown and he in a dirty shirt and too-short pants with soot on his ankles. There was probably dirt and dust on his face too, hiding his freckles.

But both of them were unmistakable to each other.

Lightning smiled a bit as she slowly walked towards him, not seeming to mind the dirt at all. “Watch out. Those royal carriages usually don’t watch where they’re going.”

Hope had a flash to their first meeting, before he knew who she was – before he knew who _he_ was – and smiled. “I can’t say I’ve minded their interference.”

Her smile widened ever-so-slightly and she held out a hand. One of her attendants scurried forward and placed a familiar-looking piece of yellow fabric in her hand and Hope’s eyes widened.

“How did - ”

“It’s how the story goes,” she murmured, tying the wristband on when he held up his arm. “A princess finding a suitor when it’s the last thing she wants. They have a chance meeting and when they properly meet, it’s…”

“…Amazing,” Hope murmured, finishing the sentence he now knew by heart.

Lightning ran her fingers over the wristband, glancing at it before her eyes met Hope’s again. “They say it ends with the couple living happily ever after.”

“I wouldn’t call this an ending,” he said, confidence he thought he’d lost surging through him as he leaned in to claim the kiss he should have at the ball. “More like…a happy beginning.”

Strangely, he thought he could vaguely hear the sounds of his mentor shouting “NOOOO” as he and Lightning kissed, but Hope hardly cared. For so long, he’d been lost, wondering who he was and being told to be happy with his place.

But while he may have been common and simple in the eyes of some, he was amazing in the heart of another.

It had taken time and maybe the help of a fairy godfather, but he knew now where he belonged.

Glitter and all.

**Author's Note:**

> I purposely left the 'mentor' as a vague evil character, but it's funny if you imagine him with Dysley's face lol
> 
> I have many more OTP fics on [tumblr](http://rainbowserenity.tumblr.com)~


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